14th August On 14 August 1884, the Barry Dock and Railway Company Act was passed, allowing for the construction of a dock at Barry Island. David Davies of Ocean Collieries was one of the premier business men of the South Wales coal fields, but like many suffered from the capacity and monopoly issues created by two companies: * The Taff Vale Railway which provided the dominant rail infrastructure. Capacity issues were particularly dominant afterPontypridd, where down loaded trains and up return empty wagons were restricted to a single double track route, which could not be expanded due to the geographic challenges of the valley * Cardiff Docks, which having been developed by Lord Bute, were sufficient to serve his coal-exporting needs, but did not have sufficient capacity to cope with new mine developments In light of the geographic restrictions of the valley south of Pontypridd, Davies proposed development of a secondary route which terminated at Barry, where a dock infrastructure could be developed without the mud flat or tidal restrictions which gave Cardiffs Tiger Bay its name. This would create a competitive edge to the development, and due to being later developed to a more easily accessible docks, a resultant efficiency advantage over Cardiff. By 1910 it had overtaken Cardiff as the largest export point of South Wales coal, but like much of the South Wales infrastructure, it quickly declined following the 1926 miners strike, and never recovered after World War II, with the docks becoming the home of the most famous site for the scrapping of British Railways steam locomotives in the 1960s onwards. Now a smaller operation than its former rival, what remains of the railway infrastructure has been absorbed into Network Rail, while the docks, now owned by Associated British Ports, are being given a light industrial and residential make-over.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 23:10:00 +0000
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